About

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With the success and praise for my fourth novel, Every Time I Think of You, I've begun work on a sequel.

As many readers expected and hoped, the story of Reid and Everett is far from over. What happens after the happy ending? Perhaps a hopeful beginning.

As an author, I've already begun work on the continuing story of two young men who've just started a passionate relationship.What happens when the teenage passion settles to a closer relationship?

As a journalist, depicting the time and setting with accuracy is essential. I'll be engaging in research specific to the book's story. Set mostly in Philadelphia, and at Temple University from 1980-1985, I'll spend several days researching specific events and archival periodicals, and conducting personal interviews. Specific details will include events relating to gay and disabled students, and the approach of the AIDS epidemic.

Research will be conducted at the archives at Temple University, and the archives of the Philadelphia Gay News. Personal interviews are also being arranged. Pivotal historical events will be chosen to weave a story that's not only creative, but fact-based and accurate. Your support will help bring these characters to life.

Funds for this project will focus specifically on research expenses. Any additional help will be used toward cost-efficient production, distribution and promotion of the work, expected to be completed in September 2013.

PUBLISHED REVIEWS

"[The] 2012 Lambda Award finalist in romance achieves the delicate balance of
allowing its disabled teenaged protagonist to have a realistic sexual
experience without fetishising “gimp” sex. Provenzano ably accomplishes
this feat by focusing on the sweet relationship between our two teen
heroes, Reid Conniff and Everett Forrester, within the larger theme of
the naturalness of gay love. "Even the boys’ names evoke the woods. The more physical, less cerebral
Everett is dark and swarthy (Reid nicknames him Monkey), his love and
attraction to Reid is spontaneous and natural, whereas the tall and
somewhat gangly Reid’s response is more reflective. Their love is a
force of nature. We are spared the clichéd motifs of the “coming out”
story. While the boys’ families do play both positive and negative roles
in their relationship, the difficulties that they face are not based
primarily in familial homophobia. "Provenzano’s sweet humor throughout the book is what makes it such a
moving and satisfying read. While he certainly brings the reader to a
deeper understanding of being differently-abled, he never resorts to
preaching his message. These boys are too real for that." – Dick Smart, Lambda Literary Review

“[Every Time I Think of
You] opens readers' eyes, minds and
hearts to corners of the world they may never have realized existed. Everett's
paralysis (he's clobbered by a lacrosse stick) is less metaphoric, more an
opportunity to explore the effect of disability on two growing boys who just
happen to be gay. It's not easy to write a novel about sports, gay teenagers
and sex in (and out of) wheelchairs. Jim Provenzano has done it, with grace and
power.” – Dan Woog, syndicated columnist, The Outfield

“With Reid and Everett, the
author has created two counterparts that complement each other beautifully.
Their romance, simple and pure, yet heated and passionate, is strikingly
genuine. Furthermore, they’re both likable, so much so that the reader can’t
help but cheer for them. Even the most jaded among us will experience a renewed
faith in love and romance after reading it.” –
Christopher Verleger, Edge on the Net

“There are so many levels of
nuance to Provenzano's story. But reading about the clever ways in which they
find to spend time together is inspiring and touching. It's an exciting voyage of discovery,
for them and for readers alike. When the story takes its more serious turn, Every
Time I Think of You becomes a tale of
heartbreak, courage, and healing. It's a remarkable, uplifting story.” – ­David Elijah Nahmod, Bay Area
Reporter

“A beautiful story of
friendship, devotion and love, as well as a practical lesson on dealing with
physically challenged individuals.” –
Eric Lind, Echo Magazine

“Sweet, and tender, with the
right feeling for a teenage love story.” – Elisa Rolle, Elisa Reviews

“Provenzano’s characters are
rich and complex. Provenzano’s sense of pace and plotting are dead on, so
things never drag, and his prose is straightforward and never showy. It’s a
well-told tale whose aim to inform as well as entertain certainly hits the
mark.” – Terry Wheeler, Out in Print

“This
is a unique coming of age story replete with the surprise one feels when he
realizes that he is in love. I love the way the writer brought opposites
together here—heartbreak and peace, familiar and unknown, humor and near
tragedy.” – Amos Lassen Reviews

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR EVERY TIME I THINK OF YOU“The coming-of-age story gets
a welcome and much needed shake up in Jim Provenzano’s graceful and surprising
novel about falling in love. Always going where you least expect it, the story
is by turns heartbreaking and arousing, comic and introspective, familiar and
altogether new. These are characters you’ll remember long after the last page.”
– Michael Thomas Ford, author of Full
Circle, The Road Home, Last Summer

“Every Time I Think of You is
a rare combination of delicacy and power, a story of 'the unbearable weight of
first love' told with both innocence and urgency by its wise and charming
adolescent narrator. It rekindled faded memories of the intensity of youthful
desire—the mystery, the promise, the excitement, the disappointment.
Intelligent, subtle, and compelling, Jim Provenzano’s novel is, most of all,
audacious. Bravo!”– Andrew W. M. Beierle, author of First Person Plural and The Winter of Our Discothèque

“Every Time I Think of You captures the joy of finding love for the first
time, with all the sweetness, comedy and tragedy that experience inevitably
entails. And it does so with the audacity and brutal honesty to admit that yes,
even the broken and imperfect among us deserve to experience everything that
life has to offer. Kudos to Provenzano for daring to show that disability and
sexuality aren’t mutually exclusive, and that crips can be just as good in bed (or
elsewhere) as their non-disabled counterparts.”– Ray Aguilera, former editor of Bent Voices

“Jim Provenzano has written a
tender, nostalgic tale in a simple yet elegant prose that comes straight
from the heart. It’s beautiful, literary, and effective without affectation.
We’re moved by these characters because we recognize in them our own
once-believed indestructibility.”– Eric Arvin, author of Woke Up in a Strange Place, Simple Men and Subsurdity

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

Personal thanks in the book's acknowledgements, a permanent thanks on my website and blog, with a link to the site of your choice, two signed paperback copies of both 'Every Time I Think of You' and the sequel, mailed to you, and two eBook edition of each book.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

Personal thanks in the book's acknowledgements, a permanent thanks on my website and blog, with a link to the site of your choice, two signed paperback copies of both 'Every Time I Think of You' and the sequel mailed to you and/or other recipients of your choice, and five eBook editions of each book sent to you and selected recipients.